Open the Books Digs Up 100 More DEI Employees at UVA

Posted on May 23, 2024 by | Leave a comment

Adam Andrzejewski

by James A. Bacon

Back in March, Adam Andrzejewski and his team at Open the Books, a non-profit dedicated to transparency in government spending, concluded that the University of Virginia is spending $20 million in payroll for 235 employees (including student interns) on work relating to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Describing Andrzejewski’s numbers as “wildly inflated,” UVA officials countered with a count of 55 employees earning salaries of $5.3 million.

So, Andrzejewski sent his researchers back for a second look. As it turns out, Open the Books concluded, their initial findings were far off the mark. They were way too low. The organization has identified 100 additional employees across 80 offices and departments who have been sucked into the University’s DEI vortex.

These are employees who, in addition to their primary roles at the university, contribute variously as DEI deans, directors, project leads, coordinators, representatives, fellows, council members, faculty advisors, ex officio members, and even “JEDIs” (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion personnel), Andrzejewski writes in a column published in City Journal. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars, DEI, Education (higher ed), Efficiency in Government

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Money Alone Won’t Solve Teacher Shortage

Posted on May 23, 2024 by | 2 comments

by James A. Bacon

Virginia, like other states, is facing a teacher shortage. The debate over how to reverse the thinning of the ranks has been mind-bogglingly superficial. As a consequence, there is little prospect of solving it.

The root of the problem is that the Virginia Education Association (VEA) and its ideological allies in the mainstream media define the problem as insufficient pay — a problem that can be addressed only by boosting teacher salaries. VEA rarely if ever makes an issue of poor working conditions.

Thus, we read in the Virginia Mercury that Virginia teacher pay “gets a boost in budget, but it’s still projected to fall short of national average.” The two-year budget signed last week includes $540 million for 3% salary increases each year. Predictably, the VEA says it’s not enough to keep Virginia salaries competitive.

The article delves into a discussion of methodological differences between the VEA and the Youngkin administration on how to calculate average teacher pay so it can be comparable across the 50 states.

Here’s what the arcane budget debate ignores: the teacher shortage in Virginia isn’t caused by teachers picking up and relocating to states with higher pay. It’s caused by teachers dropping out of the profession because they think their jobs suck. Continue reading →

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Posted in Discipline and Disorder, Education (K-12), Uncategorized

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Mysterious Attempt to Breach Quantico

Posted on May 23, 2024 by | 6 comments

by Kerry Dougherty 

If not for a feisty online news organization, Potomac Local News, we wouldn’t know that earlier this month two Jordanian nationals attempted to bring a truck onto Quantico Marine Base; on May 10, PLN reported:

 Two people inside a box truck tried to force their way onto Quantico Marine Corps Base.

After being pressed by Potomac Local News, base officials today said that in the early morning hours of Friday, May 3, 2024, the two men drove a truck up to the base’s main gate on Fuller Road, just outside Dumfries, told guards that they were contractors for Amazon and were making a delivery to Quantico Town’s post office. The town is located inside the military base.

The men did not provide any approved access credentials, and police determined the vehicle had no affiliation with the base, so officers directed the truck to a holding area for standard vetting procedures. ‘One of the military police officers noticed the driver, ignoring the direct instructions of the officers, continued to move the vehicle past the holding area and attempted to access…Quantico,’ said base spokesman Capt. Micheal Curtis.

The military tried to keep the incident secret and didn’t notify personnel on the base until two weeks after it occurred.

The Potomac Local News noted that this attempted incursion was just the latest in a series of incidents at military installations around the country, including one at Little Creek in Norfolk on April 28.

In a follow-up story, the New York Post quoted a military expert who suggested that these may be dry runs for a serious terrorist attack in the works.

According to the Post, Matt Strickland, former infantry combat medic, Blackwater private military contractor, and combat incident analyst at the National Ground Intelligence Center, said that “in his experience of convoys under attack and later in combat intelligence analysis, the secrecy surrounding what happened at Quantico is meant to spare the administration embarrassment, not keep the country safe.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Defense and National Security, Media

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UVA Groups Are Hamas Proxies, Lawsuit Contends

Posted on May 22, 2024 by | 49 comments

by James A. Bacon

Matan Goldstein, a first-year Israeli-American student at the University of Virginia, has filed a lawsuit against President Jim Ryan and Rector Robert Hardie, alleging that they stood by and did nothing while pro-Hamas groups subjected him to harassment, intimidation and abuse for his religious and ethnic identity.

Goldstein drew attention as one of the only Jewish students at UVA willing to publicly defend Israel after the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023. He was insulted, ostracized and spit upon. His pleas to the administration went unheeded. According to the lawsuit, Ryan and Hardie declined to intervene even when the president of the UVA chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) sought to silence him by filing bogus Honor Code charges against him.

“Pro-Hamas students have turned what once was a beautiful bastion of enlightened freethinking and tolerance into a trash-laden wasteland of antisemitic and anti-Israeli hate, and Defendants UVA, Ryan, and Hardie allowed it to happen,” states the lawsuit, which was filed May 17. Goldstein is represented in the case by the Charlottesville law firm Brown & Gavalier PLLC.

For a quick overview of the lawsuit, read the article in Virginia Business magazine. But that story skims the surface. The lawsuit consolidates a vast body of material about antisemitism at UVA, much of which will be familiar to Bacon’s Rebellion readers but some of which is new. Anyone deeply interested in the subject should consult the lawsuit itself, a highly readable document expressed in colorful language.

There is far too much detail to include in a single article, so I shall address major themes in separate posts. Today I will explore the lawsuit’s argument that the expressions of pro-Palestinian support at UVA were orchestrated by pro-Hamas groups, at least in part, as part of a broader propaganda campaign rolled out in conjunction with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel. Continue reading →

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Posted in Charity, Philanthropy and Nonprofits, Culture wars, Education (higher ed)

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Challenging the Fact-Free Narrative on RGGI

Posted on May 22, 2024 by | 31 comments

The states still in the Regional Greenhous Gas Initiative. Lawsuits are pending to add Virginia and Pennsylvania.

By Steve Haner

The numerous falsehoods in a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch story about the carbon tax so loved by Virginia Democrats start right with the headline.  It states that Virginia’s decision to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative “is costing millions.”

The figure of $150 million per year is then mentioned, apparently simply quoting the Democratic legislators who held a news conference May 21 to pledge their continued fealty to the program. They had sought to order Virginia back into RGGI with a budget provision, which they then agreed to drop in the final compromise.

The $150 million amount they mentioned is blatantly false, far too small.  Were Virginia still part of the 11-state cap and trade compact, RGGI would be costing utility ratepayers as much as $350 million per year, based on the most recent carbon tax amount in the first 2024 RGGI allowance auction.

So, the decision to stay out is not “costing” money but will actually save utility ratepayers as much as $700 million over 2024 and 2025.  Dominion Energy Virginia was the largest Virginia buyer of RGGI carbon allowances under the regulatory regime, and it has been passing along those costs directly to customers on all its monthly bills.

This was the second time in days that the capital city newspaper gave Democrats access to its front page to complain about Governor Glenn Youngkin’s opposition to the carbon tax regulation, and to claim he broke the law in repealing it.  The May 18 story is just as fuzzy about who actually pays the carbon tax. Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, Environment, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Taxes, Utilities

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Richmond’s Electoral Woes Continue

Posted on May 21, 2024 by | 26 comments

Keith Balmer, Richmond City General Registrar, Photo credit: Richmond Free Press

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The situation with the Richmond city registrar just keeps getting worse. For once, however, one cannot blame the city administration or city council. The registrar is appointed by, and answers to, the Richmond electoral board, which is comprised of two Republicans and one Democrat. Nevertheless, the city can exercise some control over the money spent by the registrar.

The saga started in 2021 when the electoral board, with Democrats in the majority, fired the long-time registrar, Kirk Showalter. No public explanation was given for firing Showalter, who had been in the office for 25 years, serving both Republican and Democratic boards. There had been public allegations that she had not been courteous to a former City Council member, had failed to follow FOIA procedures, had moved slowly in notifying absentee voters of errors in their ballots that they could correct, and had demeaned Black staff members. She was also blamed for an outbreak of COVID in the Registrar’s office. However, she was well respected by registrars throughout the state.

The board appointed Keith Balmer to the position of registrar. Balmer, who had been employed by the Virginia Dept. of Elections, garnered high praise from the electoral board members. Jim Nachman, the chair of the board, called him “eminently qualified” and cited “his knowledge and experience, [and] how he conducts himself and how he interacts with people, the staff at the registrar’s office and the public.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Elections, Electoral process, Governance

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The Society that Guns Have Made

Posted on May 20, 2024 by | 169 comments

Charae Williams Keys wears her late husband’s wedding ring on a necklace. Photo credit: New York Times

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

A recent event in Ohio is a vivid illustration of what we are coming to as a society in which firearms are ubiquitous.

Here is an excerpt from a long article in The New York Times in which the incident is described:

Mr. [Jason] Keys and his wife, Charae Williams Keys, were getting into their car after a Father’s Day visit in 2021 with her grandparents in a leafy neighborhood near Walnut Hill Park in Columbus, Ohio. A 72-year-old neighbor carrying a rifle accosted them in the belief, he later told the police, that Mr. Keys had let the air out of his daughter’s tires and poisoned his lawn.

Mr. Keys, who was carrying a pistol in his waistband, and his father-in-law tried to disarm the man, knocking him to the ground, while another relative ran back inside to get a .22 rifle. While Ms. Keys ducked behind the car to call 911, she heard multiple gunshots. She emerged to find her husband mortally wounded.

It took a moment for everyone to realize that the shots had come from a fourth gun across the street. Elias Smith, a 24-year-old ex-Marine, had stepped to his front door with a so-called ghost gun, an AR-style rifle that Mr. Smith had assembled from parts ordered online. Within seconds, he opened fire, hitting Mr. Keys five times.

‘What are you shooting for?’ a relative of Mr. Keys can be heard asking on surveillance video that captured parts of the incident.

Mr. Smith answered, ‘I don’t know.’

Jason Keys died.  Elias Smith is serving 15 years to life in prison.  His trial included evidence that he suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury.  Three lives ruined. All because guns were available to settle an argument that could have been settled with words or, at the worst, with fists.

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Posted in Culture wars, Gun rights

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Amnesty: Governor Youngkin Has No Power at VMI

Posted on May 20, 2024 by | 22 comments

Introduction: For those unfamiliar with the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), disciplinary actions against Cadets include “demerits” recorded in their records, confinement to barracks, and “penalty tours” (PT) or a combination of those for misconduct ranging from minor infractions (uniform violations, dirty rooms) to major (drinking in barracks, disrespect to cadet officers, breaking VMI regulations).

Cadets accumulating more than 75 demerits in a semester (80 for freshmen) are placed on conduct probation. Those with 100 demerits in a semester are recommended for suspension from VMI. Subject to Commandant staff approval, cadets march in a supervised formation, attend a study hall or labor in a “work detail” where each 50 minute session eliminates one PT. 

Confinement physically restricts Cadets to the VMI barracks, without class privileges, except for limited official duties such as meals, classes, etc. For example, the highest (Penalty #1) receives a ”15-4-60”or 15 demerits, 4 months barracks confinement, 60 penalty tours (50 hours). The second most severe punishment (Penalty #2) receives a “10-4-55” or 10 demerits, 4 months barracks confinement, and 55 penalty tours (46 hours).

Amnesty releases all cadets from confinement and eliminates penalty tours. In some cases over VMI’s history, it expunged demerits from cadet records. In Virginia amnesty is the ultimate embodiment of the Governor’s authority as Commander-in-Chief of VMI, over all Virginia Military forces, and over  the VMI Superintendent.

The following article originally appeared in The Cadet, a student-led publication at VMI, and is republished here with permission:

****

by The Cadet Editorial Staff

Editor’s note: The Superintendent and Commandant documents referenced are available in the online version of the article at www.cadetnewspaper.com

To many observers the Corps’ muted reaction to Governor Youngkin’s order granting amnesty to the Corps during the parade on April 10th came as a surprise given the traditional uproarious responses from Cadets in the past. It seemed to surprise, and possibly somewhat embarrass the Governor to the point he pointedly, and repeatedly, granted the Corp permission to “show emotion” at his announcement. Cadets were hesitant to react upon the announcement as they were told to maintain bearing if amnesty was granted, yet even the second attempt was somewhat lackluster. While this may have been a result of confusion on how to respond on the part of the Corps, it is somewhat representative of the diminished perception of amnesty’s legitimacy. To address Cadet perceptions of amnesty and the failure of the administration in some cases to fully absolve all Cadets of their crimes, it is necessary to examine the history of amnesty at VMI.

Reaching into the VMI archives back to the first mention of “amnesty” in 1919 supports this conclusion and reveals a traditional amnesty scope beyond not only the Governor but also one that, in application, provided meaningful incentives to those cadets who abided by Institute regulations. Continue reading →

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Posted in Education (higher ed)

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Lack of Credit, RVA Edition

Posted on May 19, 2024 by | 2 comments

by Jon Baliles

City Hall has spent the last few months trying to fix the meals tax fiasco where they were charging restaurants thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in penalties and interest which accrued that the restaurants never knew about and about which the city never made any attempt to contact them, so that their bills were ballooning. At first it was just a handful of complainers, according to Richmond’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), but then it was acknowledged it was 500, and then finally the auditor discovered there were 673 affected accounts.

So the city began to stem the bleeding and started resolving the situation.  They refunded some restaurants that had paid a lot of money just to stop the interest from continuing to accumulate, and others had the charges the city said were owed wiped out. Anything to stop the buffet of media stories and bad press.

City Council moved faster and passed legislation in February that requires the city administration to apply payments only to the month for which they are submitted. They city had been following the worst practice of taking a portion of a payment and applying it to a delinquent account balance that the restaurant owner never knew about because they weren’t notified; they were unknowingly constantly in arrears while the interest and penalties continued to grow. That’s why some restaurants had balances of $37,000, $68,000 and $180,000 outstanding.

But the legislation that Council passed also included making the administration notify accounts if they had a credit on their account. The fixing of the fiasco and reimbursement of the erroneously billed accounts and wiping out of phantom balances began after the passing of the legislation because City Hall needed this issue to disappear ASAP because they didn’t want the other shoe to drop — the shoe that might show possible credits on accounts. Continue reading →

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Posted in Government Finance, Government Transparency, Taxes

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Bacon Meme of the Week

Posted on May 18, 2024 by | 8 comments

Greetings from Sedona, Arizona. Not only is Sedona one of the most spectacular spots on the planet, inhabitants display a healthy reverence for wild pigs, or javelina, as seen in its statuary. –JAB

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Posted in Uncategorized

Riley Gaines: Role Model

Posted on May 17, 2024 by | 37 comments

by Kerry Dougherty 

We live in a world hungry for role models for our young children. Especially girls.

I met one yesterday.

Twenty-four year old Riley Gaines. Champion athlete and accidental feminist. Poised, proud and witty. Listen to her speak for an hour and you’ll be convinced this smart and attractive  dynamo can accomplish almost anything.

The White House someday? I wouldn’t be surprised.

You’ve heard of her, no doubt. She was the swimmer from the University of Kentucky who tied Lia Thomas, a 6’4” transgender competitor, for fifth place in the NCAA Women’s Championship 200-meter free style in 2022.

Even though they finished at the exact same time, event officials made sure it was the man in a tank suit who held the trophy aloft.

“Sorry, Riley. There’s only one trophy and we need Lia to hold it for the photos,” she was told as they presented the hardware for the fastest women’s collegiate swimmer to a man.

It seems that moment was her awakening. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars

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Off the Interstate: “God’s Thumbprint”

Posted on May 16, 2024 by | 10 comments

Burke’s Garden,   Photo credit: Va. Dept. of Historic Resources

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

I first encountered Burke’s Garden many years ago the first time I drove to Southwest Virginia.  I was enchanted with it and visit it every time I go to Southwest Virginia.  The latest visit was late last month when I was on the way back to Richmond from visiting my grandson in college in Kentucky.

I don’t remember how I found out about Burke’s Garden.  I certainly did not stumble upon it.  One does not stumble across Burke’s Garden.  One has to be looking for it.

To get there, you take a local road south from the town of Tazewell.  That road will lead up a mountain with the usual S-curves and hairpin turns.  Upon coming down the other side of the mountain, you will be in a large, fertile, green valley completely surrounded by mountains.  The road you came in on is the only paved way out.  (There is a forest service road at the other end of the valley but whether it is passable varies.  Some descriptions of it advise those attempting to travel it have a chain saw handy.)

Radford University geologists explain that the area was once a large dome comprised of shale and limestone capped by harder sandstone. As the forces of erosion cut through the sandstone, the softer rock beneath it eroded more quickly, forming the valley floor with hard sandstone forming the ridges around the edge of the valley. Continue reading →

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No, Virginia Beach Did NOT Cut Taxes

Posted on May 15, 2024 by | 41 comments

by Kerry Dougherty 

I don’t normally link to Virginian-Pilot stories. Today is an exception.

Find the fiction in this one: “Virginia Beach Adopts $2.6 Billion Budget, Cutting Taxes and Increasing City Worker Pay.”

Once again, the press joins the city in spreading a fantasy. This time it’s that when the city council lowered the property tax rate from .99 per $100 of assessed value to .97, our magnanimous elected officials “cut” taxes.

I’m calling BS on that.

As John Moss pointed out in his clear-eyed analysis of the budget here yesterday, to actually keep taxes about the same for most Beach residents – given the sharp rise in assessments this year – the city should have lowered the rate to .92. Continue reading →

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Posted in Media, Taxes

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Greasing the Skids for the Budget

Posted on May 14, 2024 by | 35 comments

Oxen hauling logs over greased skids Photo courtesy of Museum at Campbell River

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The Virginia General Assembly can be efficient when it puts its mind to it.

Consider the 2024 Special Session that convened on Monday.  The House convened at noon and adjourned at 3:15. The Senate stayed around a little bit longer.  It convened at noon and adjourned at 3:51.  (Technically, both houses actually recessed, rather than adjourned, but that was done so they could come back into session later in the year if they so desire.)

During that period of a little over three hours, both houses accomplished the following: introduced guests in the galleries,  recessed so that their money committees could consider the budget bill, elected eight judges, passed a bunch of commending resolutions, and passed the budget bill.

Speaking of the budget bill, here is the legislative history of that most important piece of legislation:

Sat.  May 11

  • Prefiled
  • Referred to the House Appropriations Committee

Mon. May 13

  • Reported from House Appropriations Committee
  • Read first time
  • Constitutional readings dispensed
  • Passed by House  (94-6)
  • Constitutional reading dispensed by Senate
  • Referred to Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee
  • Reported from Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee
  • Read second time
  • Constitutional reading dispensed
  • Passed by Senate (39-1)
  • Enrolled
  • Signed by Speaker
  • Signed by President of the Senate
  • Signed by the Governor Continue reading →

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Posted in General Assembly, Government Finance

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Fewer Children Seeking ER Treatment for Cannabis Ingestion

Posted on May 14, 2024 by | 28 comments

Cannabis-Related Pediatric Emergency Department Visits by Month. Source: Virginia Hospital Association

by James A. Bacon

The number of pediatric patients visiting hospital emergency rooms in cannabis-related incidents fell 21.5% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period the year before, a decline that some attribute to bipartisan legislation regulating the production, sale, and potency of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana-related products.

A Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association analysis shows that the volume of cannabis-related visits among pediatric patients had been trending higher over the past several years, peaking in late 2022 and early 2023 before dropping sharply in June 2023.

“This law was introduced to protect Virginia children and families from being harmed by ingesting unregulated, intoxicating products that can pose serious health risks,” said Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, who sponsored the bill to regulate THC-infused products. “So, it is certainly welcome news to see that this policy change appears to be having a positive effect in terms of declining pediatric emergency department visits due to cannabis exposure.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Mental illness and substance abuse, Public safety & health, Uncategorized

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